D-Day Christian veteran celebrates after parachuting into Normandy 75 years later

Harry Read took part in a tandem jump with the Red Devils after a display of some 280 parachutists in Sannerville on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Read and John Hutton, 94, took off from Duxford in Cambridgeshire and flew over to France, landing in fields overlooked by poppies which was the original drop zone for the 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion, who went on to destroy bridges in a bid to restrict German movements during the missions.

They were the first two out of a Cessna aircraft at between 800ft and 1,000ft followed by a 5,000 sq ft Union Flag.

But their jump was in danger of being cancelled after being fraught with delays and technical difficulties when there was a problem with civilian Dakota aircraft “availability”.

When another aircraft was found it was a race against time to get into French airspace in time in order to get clearance from the authorities to land.

Now a retired Salvation Army officer living in Bournemouth, Dorset, Mr Read was a 20-year-old wireless operator with the Royal Signals who had a battery the size and weight of a toolbox strapped to his right leg when he was pushed out of the plane in the early hours of June 6 1944.

He told reporters afterwards: “I feel good. My health is good and my mind is still ticking away very nicely.

“I thought the jump was brilliant. I just had thoughts of…